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ADDRESS jji ^ji 

TO THE PEOPLE OF 

ON THE EVILS OF 

S1AYERY. 



BY 

The friends of 
LIBERTY AND EQUALITY. 



"Anne, Hceat invitos in servitutem dare" Dr. Pickard. 

"Not only the Christian religion, but nature herself cries 
out against State of Slavery : — 1'opk Leo. X. 



William Swatm, Printer. 
Greensborough, N. C. 

1S30. 



'A/I ' 
To the people of North-Carolina. 
The Board of Managers of the Manu- 
mission Society of North - Carolina in 
General Association, feel in their indis- 
pensable duty, respectfully to address, 
not only their immediate constituents, 
but with them, the people of the State 
in general. 

WILLIAM SWAIM, Sec. 
Guilford, March 1830. 



t 

NICHOLAS MULLER, 

PRINTER & STEREOTYPES. 

48 Beekman -Street, New York. 



3XTOTICE. 

A respectable minister of Worcester, Mass. put into my hands, 
last year, a pamphlet, printed in North Carolina, in 1830, which 
he and others have so highly recommended, that it was deemed 
best to re-publish it, for circulation in that old and influential 
State, and in other Southern States, at the present time. It is 
well that the people of those States should know the sentiments 
of the generation that preceeded them, on the great and all-engross- 
ing subject of American Slavery. 

The pamphlet is re-printed in a style as similar to the original 
as could be done, considering how superior the paper now used, 
and the type, tfcc, are to those used thirty years since. It is 
printed exactly after the original edition, except that Professor 
C. D. Cleveland, of Philadelphia, has corrected some errors in the 
passage quoted from the writings of Cicero. 

It is dne to the cause of Freedom to say here, that the eman- 
cipationists of the present day do not agree with everything in 
this pamphlet; and it is quite probable, that if the author or 
authors of it were now living, they would have improved it ac- 
cording to the light that has been thrown upon the subject since 
its first publication. It is re-published, as a remarkable product- 
ion emanating from a slave-holding State thirty years ago ; and 
it is commended, not alone to the present generation in slave- 
holding States, but also to those Northern men, who fall far below 
the anti-slavery sentiment of Southern men in the year 1830. 

Emancipationists in N. C. appear to have believed, in 1830, 
that slaveholding was an inherent sin, and did not trouble them- 
selves with the inquiry, "Is it in all cases sinful? Is it a malum 
in se V They believed it to be a sin — therefore to be denounced. 
Death to slaveholding — was their motto.— May God bless this 
pamphlet to the enlightenment of the country. 

L. T. 



ADDRESS, &c. 

Carolinians : 

We believe it is generally known 
that a social institution has, for some years, been pro- 
gressing, for " the gradual abolition of negro slave- 
ry" among us : yet we are well aware that our pre- 
cise views in relation to this subject are but par- 
tially understood. In the commencement of our in- 
vestigations, we used the utmost prudence, know- 
ing the irritable disposition of those, (and at that time 
many there were,) who, from want of reflection on 
the subject, felt, or seemed to feel their dearest 
rights invaded by the least attempt to examine into 
the policy or rectitude of holding the African race in 
a state of slavery. We proceeded then as we ought, 
with all possible caution & reserve ; never venturing 
to discuss rashly, and seldom stirring the subject far 
abroad. We thought it not only advisable, but the 
only justifiable course, in the first place to examine, 
weigh, and deliberate profoundly within our own 
more immediate circles, the fundamental principles 
of the institution, and ascertain if possible, from the 
best human calculations, to what extent could our 
labours probably succeed, and what would be 
the probable consequences of giving unrestrained 
publicity to our doctrines, by circulating them gen- 
erally throughout the country. All this we trust has 



(4) 

been done. We have taken a deliberate survey of 
this land of slavery. We have impartially examined 
the evil in its origin, its progress, and its present 
state, as well as its future consequences ; and even 
in its mildest form, it shrinks from rational inspec- 
tion — a monster of hideous deformity in its best fea- 
ture. 

We profess to have considered the matter on all 
sides, and to have made every due allowance for 
the peculiar situation of all parties, whether slave- 
holders, monster slave-holders, or slaves, and seri- 
ously, we cannot longer hesitate as to the course 
that our common duty, interest, and prosperity de- 
mand. Discussion has been too long delayed alrea- 
dy, and is now rendered the more indispensable, as 
the evil to be removed is daily accumulating on our 
hands. And we are divinely admonished to " work 
while it is day, for the night cometh when no man 
can work." 

Whatever the people of this State may be with 
respect to information on other subjects, on this they 
are very destitute, owing, we suppose, to the " awful 
delicacy 17 we hear so much about, and which we 
would briefly examine. Then what renders this 
subject so awfully delicate ? Is it the incapacity of 
the people to investigate it? Is the discussion of 
this subject delicate because it favors the innocent 
and condemns the guilty? Is it delicate because it 



(5) 

shows republicans their inconsistency? Is it deli- 
cate because it accuses the professors of the Chris- 
tian Religion of crimes which a Mahomedan would 
blush to commit ? Is it delicate because it impeach- 
es the right to hold human beings as property? 
Is it delicate because free men are ashamed or afraid 
for slaves to know that they incline to do them jus- 
tice ? If any of the above considerations are to re- 
strain the rational enquiry of this community, fare- 
well to manly enterprize in North Carolina ! But we 
yet hope for better things. This is an age of active 
enterprize. A spirit of inquiry is partially awakened 
which no earthly authority or artful dissuasion can 
effectually restrain. 

Under the protection offered by our Constitution 
in the 18th section of a Declaration of Rights made 
by the Representatives of the Freemen of this 
State, we now set out in a calm, and more full inves- 
tigation of the evils consequent on the existence of 
absolute slavery. And as we cherish no unkind 
feelings toward any class of our citizens, but prompt- 
ed by philanthropy and patriotism, we labour 
to expose inconsistencies, and to hold up to public 
gaze, and we hope to public execration, principles 
that tend to destroy our liberties, our morals, and 
even our souls ; we hope that every man having an 



(6) 

opportunity to examine this subject with us, will do it 
impartially and honestly, in attending to, and inves- 
tigating the following propositions : 

Proposition I. Our slave system is radically evil. 

II. It is founded in injustice and cruelty. 

III. It is a fruitful source of pride, idleness and 
tyranny. 

IV. It increases depravity in the human heart, 
while it inflames and nourishes a numerous train of 
dark and brutal passions and lusts, disgraceful to 
human nature, and destructive of the general wel- 
fare. 

V. It is contrary to the plain and simple maxims 
of the Christian Revelation, or religion of Christ. 

After demonstrating these propositions we shall 
briefly state in conclusion, some of the most promi- 
nent features in the plan which we would adopt for 
the abolition of slavery. 



PROPOSITION I. 

Our slave system is radically evil. 

The truth of this proposition is generally admit- 
ted, and it would be still more generally avowed 
were its pernicious effects less: For it is true that 
absolute slavery, while it tends to destroy the most 
virtuous principles yet remaining in man, by introdu- 



(7) 

cing into his heart, and cherishing there when thus 
introduced, the most hateful principles and passions 
which disgrace human nature, tends at the same 
time, to render him more destitute of a true knowl- 
edge of its enormity : as it proportionately effaces 
from his understanding those ideas of social order and 
reciprocal justice engraven on his mind by the God 
of nature. But as the remaining propositions are 
such as arise out of this, of which they are rather 
members than original propositions, we shall refer 
the reader for a further consideration of this sub- 
ject, to the propositions which follow, where its vari- 
ous principles will be attended to. 

PROPOSITION II. 
Our system of slavery is founded in injustice and 

cruelty. 

Section 1. Of the injustice of absolute slavery. 

To demonstrate the truth of this propositioD we 
shall attend to the terms "Iinjustice and cru- 
elty" ton-ether with some of those circumstances 
which have attended the introduction and continu- 
ance of Negro-Slavery among us. And as i?ijustice 
is the opposite of justice ; and as every act of social 
beings is founded either in justice or injustice, we 
need only examine the term justice, and try our slave- 



(8) 

system by its principles, since whatever is not 
according to the principles of justice, must neces- 
sarily be founded in injustice. — Justice, if we mis- 
take not, has respect to the conduct of relation, and 
imports that lie who acts according to its dictates, 
renders in a righteous manner u blessing to whom 
blessing is due, honor to whom honor fcc,* and 
that too, without the least regard to colour^ rank, or 
condition. And one very prominent feature in the 
administration of true justice, is, that it distributes 
rewards and punishments to such individuals sepa- 
rately and singly, as have merited the same, and 
that too in the same degree in which the acts as afore- 
said have merited. Now if this he a faithful descrip- 
tion of justice, is it not manifest that Negro slavery 
is founded in injustice? An unfortunate fellow- 
creature is kid-napped on Africa's defenceless shore, 
and by a monster having the form and name, with- 
out any of the tender sensihilities of a human being, 
he is taken into a foreign land and sold into perpetual 
slavery, where he becomes at once the scorn and 
the slave of a people (falsely termed Christians) 
whose conduct towards the poor negro, in many cases 
is such as would even cause 

" Mercy * * * * to weep, 



(9) 

" Should she such treatment rendered 

to a brute." 

" And what max seeing this, 

And having human feelings, does not blush 

And hang his head to think himself a man P" 

But still worse ! Should the unfortunate creature 
thus kidnapped and sold be a female, her innocent 
and helpless posterity are doomed to a like 
state of cruel bondage and Buffering, fur no other 
ostensible reason, than that of their ancestor being 
guilty of a *tdack skin ! ! If it should be urged that 
many of the negroes originally brought from 
Africa were such as had forfeited their lives 
in their native country ; this, by no principle of 
logic amounts to a sufficient reason for passing the 
dreadful decree of slavery for life on their innocent 
offspring : which according to those patriotic veter- 
ans of 177G, the framers of the Declaratian of 
America/I Independence, is a flagrant violation of the 
Law of Nature, & an unjustifiable encroachment on 
those " self-evident' 7 and " unalienable rights" with 
which God has endowed all men. 

* lie [Man] finds his follow guilty of a skin, 
Not coloured like his oivn ; and having power 
To enforce the wrong, for such a worthy cause 
Dooms and devotes him as his lawful prey. 

Cowpsb, 



(10) 

Nor wili doctrine of the injustice of absolute 
slavery lose any of its real weight by the considera- 
tion of its having the sanction of the Law, if wo 
consider that all men are but subordinate beings, 
who are held bound to obey their Creator accor- 
ding to his own Laws, which he hath ordained, 
and by which he designs his creatures to be gover- 
ned, among which that denominated the Law of 
nature (which is nevertheless a divine Law) may 
and onght to be regarded as having been instituted 
for the particular purpose to which we now apply 
it, and to which it has been applied by men of sound 
judgment and nncorrnpted principles in every age ; 
and to which it was particularly applied by the Fa- 
thers of our glorious liberty, as they have abundant- 
ly shown.* Nor dare any one doubt the validity of 
the Law of nature, any more than the right of its Al- 
mighty giver to a primary part in the government of 
mankind. It follows consequently that the principles 
set forth in the Law of nature for the government of 
mankind are primary or constitutional principles, 
and that the Laws enacted by men for their own 
government should harmonize with and acquiesce 
in them. 

And as no authority can overreach that by which 



* See Declaration of American Independence and also 
Bill of Rights. 



(11) 

the law of nature is established, therefore no human 
Legislature, how lawfully soever it may be con- 
stituted, can deprive any individual, (he or she being 
one of God's creatures, and under his government) 
of any of those "unalienable" privileges guaranteed 
to him or her in the law of nature, otherwise than 
they are personally forfeited by the individual or 
individuals from whom they are taken, without 
offending the great Governor of the universe. 
Such laws are therefore founded in injustice, and 
ought to be repealed without delay, as they oppose 
divine hm\ and as such, must be offensive to the God 
of nature, whose wrath we necessarily incur by 
suffering them to exist. 

Nor is this doctrine of the law of nature a mere 
chimera — it is a reality of which every rational man 
may have the most satisfactory evidence, even in his 
own breast : for it is there that this doctrine is fully 
authenticated and established. It was there that 
the writer's address discovered this principle. And 
there can be no doubt but, that the Patriots of 177G 
discovered the same principle existing in their 
breasts in a similar manner. And in like manner 
have good and Patriotic men in all ages dis- 
covered the same principle, in proportion as they 
received the aids of reason and revelation. * 



* In further confirmation of the above, we transcribe the 



(12) 

And if any man, upon examination find not tlie 
same principles existing in his breast also, it is not 
because of any defect either in the law of nature 
or in his own original constitution : but it is 
because he has suffered the undue love of money, 
which is the " root of all evil," and pride the 
"mother of vice," to subvert these primary prin- 
ciples of justice and prosperity implanted in his 
mind by the God of nature, and thereby to turn 
nature out of her proper course, and by thus 
abandoning himself to avarice and selfishness, has 
introduced into his own heart such an assemblage 
of carnal desires and avaricious propensities, as 
in no small degree, to darken his understanding 
and deprive it of those ideas of social order and 
reciprocal justice which even exist in minds ex- 

followinji noble passage of Cicero cited by Lectantius out of 
his work De Republica. 

"Est quidem vera lex, recta ratio, naturre congruens, dif- 
fusa in onirics, constans, sempiterna ; quae vocet ad officium 
jubendo, vetando a fraude deterreat, quae tamen neque pro- 
bos frustra jubet aut vetat, nee improbos jubendo aut ve- 
tando m wet. Huic legi nee abrogari fas est; neque deroga- 
ri ex hac aliquid licet, neque tota abrogari potest: nee 
vero aut per senatum aut per populum solvi hac lege possu- 
rnus ; neque est quuerendus explanator aut interpres ejus 
alius ; nee erit alia lex Romse, alia Athenis : alia nunc, 
alia posthac ; std et omnes gentes et omni tempore una 

i 



( 13 ) 

paneled by wisdom and ennobled by virtue. Such 
being the dictates of human instinct — or to speak 
more correctly — such being the principles set forth 
in the law of nature, a copy of which is furnished in 
the breast of every rational individual, we are not 
surprized on finding them repeatedly set forth in the 
opinions and laws of men ; — thus we know them, not 
only in the Declaration of American Independence, 
and in the Bill of Rights, but in some way or other 
set forth in some part of the Constitution or Laws of 
perhaps every State in the Union. In the Constitu- 
tes et sempiterna et immutabilis continebit ; unusque 
erit communis quasi magister et imperator omnium Deus, 
ille legis hujus inventor, disceptator, lator ; cui qui non 
parebit, ipse se fugiet ac naturam hominis aspernatus, 
hoc ipso luet maximas poenas, etiam si caetera 
supplicia qua) putantur, efTugerit." "From which it is 
clear" says Bishop Watson "that Cicero acknowledged 
a Law antecedent to all human civil institutions, and inde- 
pendent of them, binding upon all, constant and perpetu- 
al, the same in all times and places, not one thing at Rome 
and another at Athens ; of an authority so high, that no 
human power had a right to alter or annul it ; having 
God for its author, in his character of universal Master 
and Sovereign, taking hold of the very consciences of 
men, and following them with its animadversions, though 
they should escape the hand of man, and the penalties of 
human codes ": here then is the Law of nature faulv and 
fully apprehended. 



(M) 

don of the State of Delaware, though a slave-holding 
State, they are fully set forth thus : — "Through divine 
goodness all men have by the rights of wor- 

shipping and Berving their Creator according to the 
dictate- of their own consciences ; of enjoying and 
defending life and liberty; of acquiring and protec- 
ting reputation and property; and in general, of at- 
taining titable to their condition without 
injur o another." And a Declaration 
of the rights of the citizens of North-Carolina, which 
}.v the L4, Section of our Constitution, is declared 
to be a part of the Constitution of this State, Bays, in 

S I !'.' : "That all men have a natural and nn- 

alienable right to worship Almighty God, according 
to the dictates of their own consciences." While 
other parts of the above mentioned Declaration of 
Bights, as well as some subsequent acts of the Gen- 
eral Assembly, Beem to Bhow in a very high degree, 
the conflicting influence of humanity and prejudice 
in the Councils of N. Carolina. The 22, Section of 
our Declaration of Rights, which as we have shown 
above, is a part of our Constitution, says that, "No 
hereditary emoluments, privileges, or honors ought 
to be granted or conferred in this State.'' And by 
a parity of reasoning it may and ought to be said, 
that "No emoluments or privileges,'* the right to en- 
joy which, being vested in the individual or individ- 



(15) 

uals possessing them, by the law of nature, "ought to 
be taken away in any case, either in this or any eth- 
er State in a hereditary maimer* But arc not both 
these rules violated in this State? The son or 
daughter, in this State, falls heir to all, or a proper- 
tionable part of the "born sheds" belonging to the 
estate of his or her Father; and thai too without 
any bequest or other instrument of conveyance, ex- 
cept the men- provision contained in the Law of the 
state. A.M this principle of descent is a hereditary 
principle. Now if the circumstance of one man's 
holding another in absolute slavery, and of enjoying 
all the benefits of his sweat and toil, are "emolu- 
lnC nts and privileges," then it must be -.-antra that 
the "hereditary emoluments ana pn conferred 

in this state are many, very many, notwithstanding 
the constitution of the state to the contrary. And 
our "common law" which is a primary ingredient in 
the "law of the land," mentioned in Section 12, of 
our declaration of rights, is said to be founded on 
"reason and toe divine law," and is held to ac- 
quiesce in them in every instance, any tenner usage 
or decision to the contrary notwithstanding. 
The common law of this state, must therefore ac- 
quiesce in the provisions set forth in the law of na- 
ture, in all cases, when the "law of the land" is not 



(10) 

rendered otherwise by some statute or special act 
led either by the Genera] Assembly of North 
Carolina, or by Congress; and that too, according 
to the Constitution bf our State or of the United 
States, as the case may be, since the law of nature is 
evidently a divine law, and as such, must be suppo- 
sed to harmonize with all other laws of divine 
origme ; as it would be absurd to Buppose 
two divine principles, opposed the one to the 
other. The law of nature, the law of reason, and 
consequently the common law of this State, 
have shown,) all declare liberty to be the "birth 
right'' of every human being. Now it is a well 
known, and universally acknowledged point in law, 
that every man stands acquitted until the contrary 
appears in good and lawful evidence ; or in other 
words that the Law presumes every man to he in- 
nocent, or clear from any alleged charge, &c. until 
the same he proved by good and lawful testimony. 
Let us then briefly examine our slave system with 
respect to this particular. There is one man claim- 
ing to hold another as his slave, which claim the al- 
leged slave is not disposed to admit. Now in this 
trial for liberty, on whom should the weight of 
evidence rest ? We answer — according to the 
above principle, if should always rest on the claim- 



(17) 

ant. This opinion is fully corroborated by the sen- 
timents of the honorable George Wythe, one of the 
signers of the Declaration of American Independence, 
and since chancellor in Virginia ; who laid down 
as a general position "That whenever ojh ^person 
claims to hold another in slavery the onis probandi 
(burthen of evidence) lies on the CLAIMANT. This 
sentiment," he continues, "is strongly inculcated in 
our political catechism, the bill of rigths, and ac- 
cords with that self-evident principle which makes 
liberty the birth-right of every human being." Sen- 
timents like these are honorable — they arc tin- native 
sentiments of an uncorrupted understanding, and a 
mind superior to avarice and selfishness, rv>-. From 
the view we have taken of the subject, it follows 
that in the supposed trial for liberty referred to, the 
alleged Blave has only to plead, (not to prove,) that 
he is a human bring, born free according to the 
invariable law of nature ; and that he had not, at any 
time, either forfeited or relinquished his title thereto. 
Now it devolves on the person claiming to prov% 
that the alleged slave is not a human being ; that 
the law of nature does not entitle ever// lumhi/i h<i,:g 
to liucrfi/, and that the alleged slave is one of those 
unfortunate creatures for whom it has made no gra- 
cious provision ; or that he has personally forfeited, 



(18) 

or voluntarily relinquished his title thereto ; which, 
should be foil to establish any or all of the above men- 
tioned particulars, amounts to a sufficient jrre- 
tumption in favour of the alleged slave's liberty, and 
as such, he ought to have it. "Not so/' say some of 
our law expositors, M onr law presumes all Africans of 
the fall blood, who may lie claimed as slaves, to be 
such, until the contrary is proved," see Gober vs. 
Gober J. 'Taylor's reports, page 164, where this 
doctrine is laid down by the Judge in his charge. 
This being the case relied on by the advocates of 
slavery, for the establishment of the presumption of 
slavery founded on colour, we shall give ourselves, 
and our readers if they please, the trouble of exam- 
ining the case itself, as well as the profound reason- 
ing of ( 'hief d ostice Taylor on this occasion — 

Gober vs. ( — T/r.ymss and false imprisonment. 

Gober I — Plea, thai the plaintiff is a slave. 
" It appeared in evidence that the plaintiff, when 
an infant, apparently about eight days old, was 
placed in a barn by some person unknown ; and that 
the defendant, # then a girl of about twelve years of age, 
found him there and conveyed him home, and had 
kept possession of him ever since, treating him with 
humanity, but claimi?ig him as her slave. The 
plaintiff was of an olive colour, between black and 
yellow, had long hair, and prominent nose" These 



(19) 

facts being ascertained by the Court, by proof and 
inspection, the Judge proceeded to give the following 
charge : " I acquiesce in the rule laid down by the 
defendant's counsel, with respect to the presump- 
tion of every black person's being a slave. It is so, 
because the negroes originally brought into this coun- 
try were slaves, and their descendants must remain 
such until manumitted by proper authority. If there- 
fore a person of this description should claim his 
freedom, he must establish his right to it, by such 
evidence as will destroy the force of presumption 
arising from colour." But I am not aware that the 
doctrine of presumption against liberty has ever 
been urged in relation to persons of mixed, or to 
those of any colour between the two extremes of 
white and black, and I do not think it reasonable 
tliat such a doctrine should receive the least conn- 
tcnancc : Such persons may have descended from 
Indians in both lines, or at least in the maternal; 
they may have descended from a white person in the 
maternal line, or from mulatto parents original/// 
jrec ; in all which cases the offspring, following the 
condition of the mother, is entitled to freedom. 
Considering how many probabilities there are in fa- 
vour of the liberty of those persons, they ought not 
to be deprived of it upon mere presumption , more 



(20) 

especially as the right to hold them in slavery, if it 
exists, is in most instances, capable of being satisfac- 
torily proved." Doubtless every true friend of lib- 
erty, will be found to acquiesce in the soundness of 
the views of this " distinguished jurist '' in relation 
to persons of mixed blood; but we must candidly 
and fully dissent from the specious reasoning by which 
it is inferred, that every black person should be pre- 
sumed to be a slave. We aro convinced that no 
circumstance or consideration whatever, can render 
unqualified and absolute slavery consistent with that 
instinctive sense of right of which every man may 
find more or less in his own breast. But could any 
circumstance justify it in any degree, is it not still 
evident, that that circumstance cannot be mere 
colour of the skin, or even any other natural circum- 
stance whatever. But says Judge Taylor : — " It is 
so, because the negroes originally brought into this 
Country were slaves, and their descendants must 
continue such until manumitted by proper authority." 
Then the doctrine which presumes the existence of 
slavery, and which Judge Taylor would confine to 
negroes of the whole blood, is made by the same 
gentleman to depend, not so much upon the colour 
of the skin, as upon the circumstance of the " negroes 
originally brought into this country" being slaves. 
But we would ask by what means they became such ? 



(21) 

Were they "originally" slaves? Or were they not 
"originally" robbed and plundered of their liberties 
and made slaves by arbitrary means contrary to all 
justice and propriety ? "We are not saying too much 
when we answer this last question in the affirmative ; 
as we could abundantly show from authentic docu- 
ments. * Having laid down his premises whereon to 
predicate the doctrine of the presumption of slavery, 
Judge Taylor proceeds to argue its hereditary prin- 
ciple, from the laws of necessity — "And their descen- 
dants," continues he, "must continue slaves until 
manumitted by proper authority." We would re- 
gard it as no small favor to have this last phrase 
"proper authority" fully elucidated. We should be 
glad to know what ideas men in general, and learn- 
ed men in their individual capacities as statesmen, 
politicians, &c. may have with respect to the 
"proper authority? by which the emancipation of 
slaves should be regulated On this, how artfully 
soever some may reason, and how cautiously soever 
they may proceed, touching only such cords as vi- 
brate with the greatest consonance to the tune of 
self-interest, we have no desire to conceal our senti- 
ments. We believe that as all men are created, 



* See Clarkson's History of the abolition of the slavr 
trade by the British Parliament. 



(22) 

equally and unalienably entitled to liberty, the child 
of a slave is as much entitled to his freedom at a 
proper age, as the child of a free person, and as 
such ought to have it. We hold that laics which de- 
termine the contrary are capitally unjust, and such as 
in truth no human Legislature has a just right to 
enact, since such laws must be opposed to the will 
of the Almighty Governor of the Universe, and his 
will must be supreme. And hence we believe that 
this will of the Supreme Being constitutes the only 
" 'proper authority'''' by which manumission should be 
regulated. On this subject we would say with Plato, 
that "No mortal can make laws to purpose" unless 
made in conformity with the divine will — that is, no 
human authority can give sanctity or justice to a law 
which violates the law of nature, or any other princi- 
ple in the will of the Almighty ruler of the world. 
Such laws must therefore be a curse instead of a 
blessing, to those, by, and for whom they have been 
enacted. Neither are they sanctified by Judge Tay- 
lor's principle of necessity, since this great truth still 
remains, " That which is morally ivrong, cannot 
be politically right? (0- J. Fox.) 

But to return to the subject after this seeming di- 
gression : — If Judge Taylor has proved any thing in 
favor of the presumption of slavery, his arguments 



(23) 

operate with as much force against those of the mix- 
ed, as against those of the ivliole blood ; and the 'pre- 
sumption of slavery is as unreasonable in relation to 
Africans of the " whole blood," as it is in relation to 
any colour that can possibly exist between " the two 
extremes of black and white? For it is not only 
evident that " the negroes originally brought into this 
country" were "robbed and plundered" of their 
liberties, and deprived of them by the most glaring in- 
justice and inhumanity ; but it is also true, that there 
has been heretofore, and still are, many Africans of 
the whole blood who are declared to be free, and 
for whose benefit and protection as free men, the 
power of government has been wielded whenever it 
has been thought by the ruling authorities, to be ne- 
cessary. And further — it is an evident fact that 
much the largest portion of those of mixed blood are 
claimed and held as slaves, while by far the greatest 
number of those whom we call free negroes, are Af- 
rican descendants, of the full blood. The causes 
which conspire to produce this astonishing fact, are 
chiefly such as must be apparent to every person 
who has attentively considered this subject ; but be- 
ing such in general, as tend to promote an unlaw- 
ful intercourse between ivhite or free males, and 
female slaves ; whether of the whole or mixed blood, 
more than they do a similar intercourse between 



(21) 

black males and white females, they belong more 
properly to Proposition 1, of this address, to which 
place we refer the reader for their farther considera- 
tion. It is therefore inconsistent with Bound reason, 
with the divine Law, and consequently with the 
common law of this State, thus to trifle with the natu- 
ral rights of mankind, and with God the great and 
sovereign donor of* those rights, by making the mere 
colour of the skin, amount to a sufficient presump- 
tion against a fellow creature's liberty, and this 
u mere presumption " the means of depriving him of it. 
Is this just? Does conduct like this comport with 
the dignity and virtue of a "free, christian " and inde- 
pendent community V Let us hear what a former 
Legislature have said on a Bubject in some respects 
similar — In the preamble to an act passed in 1708, 
running thus ■ "Whereas, by an act of Assembly, pas- 
Bed in the year 1771. the killing of a slave, however 
wanton, cruel, and deliberate, is only punishable in 
the first instance by imprisonment, and paying the 
value thereof to the owner : which distinction of 
criminality between the murder of a white person 
and one that is equally a human being, but merely 
of a different complexion, is disgraceful to humanity, 
and degrading in /I"' Iti^Jiest decree, to the Laws, 
and principles of a Jree, cliristiaii and independent 



( 25 ) 

community.* Now if this "distinction of criminality" 
between the murdering of a u white person 1 * and one 
that is "equally a human being" but "merely of a 
different complexion" is in reality bo "disgraceful to 
humanity/' 'and "degrading to the laws and principles 
of a free christian and otoepen dent community ; is 
not any "distinction" founded upon the same 
circumstance, (the circumstance of colour ,) more 
or less bo, in proportion as it is made to affect 
the persons against whom it is exercised? And as 
next to life $ liberty is the greatest earthly boon en- 
joyed by mortals, or rather as liberty is that alone 
which can render temporal existence truly desirable % 
what distinction therefore, founded apon " mere co- 
lour? can be more, "disgraceful to humanity/ 1 and 
"degrading" to our holy religion, to our rirtur and 
even to our liberty itself than that which pre. 
sumes" one man to be a slave and another to be //- . 
their circumstance being in every respect the Bame, 
pt in the "colour of the skin ? " Neither can this 
doctrine of the presumption of slavery be supported 
by the constitution of this State. The 12, and 13, 
Sections of our Declaration of Rights declare "That 
no free man ought to be taken, imprisoned, or dis- 
eised of his freehold t liberties, or privileges, or out- 
lawed or exiled, or in any maimer destroyed or de- 



(26) 

prived of his life, liberty^ or property, but by the 

law of the land :" and that when this in the case, the 
person thtia deprived is "entitled to a remedy by 
enquiring into the lawfulness thereof," ami asserts 
that u Mu-h remedy ought not to be <' ' ued. v 

Now as this "remedy" is to be hail by "enquiring 
into the lawfuliit'- | is certain that nothing 

herein can be reasonably construed so as t-. favour 
the presumjrtion againsl liberty in any case, hut alto- 
gether the contrary. But notwithstanding this con- 
stitutional protection of the liberties of all free nun 
within this State, yet when the doctrine of the pre- 
sumption against liberty as laid down by Judge Tay- 
lor prevails, it jeopardizes the liberties and fortunes 

of hundreds of <uir citizens, many of whom are bl- 
and honest men. 
Man-stealing has been received as b crime of great 

magnitude for nearly four thousand year- : and under 
• of the wisest and best administrations, ha- been 
punished with death. But should a wretched villian 
in stealing a ergon in any part 

of the world, and in conveying such free black per- 
son within the limits of this State, the poor qi 
instead, of finding protection under our httmaru laws, 
from the injustice of this relentless cannibal, is, ac- 
cording to Judge Taylor's hypothesis, presumed to 
be a slvve by these very laws which were framed 



(27) 

to protect the *' and punish the guilty ; while 

the wretch who is guilty of a crime for which lie 
would have Buffered death under the law of M 
[a im; only protected from punishment, but also ai- 
ded in the accomplishment of his ungodly and hatefol 
purpose, by those very Laws which were instituted 
to Buppress violence and usurpation, and to encour- 
age virtue and manly enterpiize by protecting 
rights, privileges, and liberties of our general citi- 
zenship. Surely it is both unjust and cruel thus to 
trifle with the Liberties of our fellow creatures, espe- 
cially as there can no inconvenience arise from the 
opposite doctrine. For as Judge Taylor remarks 
in relation to Africans of the mixed blood, bo we 
may say of aU t that "The right to hold them in 
slavery, if it exist-, is in mosl cases capable of being 
satisfactorily proved.'' We therefore think, and 
we trust that rvrvy true Republican who may ex- 
amine the Bubject, will think, that liberty, which is 
the acknowledged "birthright" with which God has 
endowed "every human being," onght not to be 
wrested from any individual upon u mere presump- 
tion." But whether it he consistent or inconsistent 
with rhe true principles and spirit of this government, 
and laws now in force in this State, to presume a 
person to be a slave merely because he has "a skin 



(28) 

not coloured like our own," will probably be doubt- 
ed, notwithstanding it is proved to be contrary to 
reason and jurtice as well as to the divine Law, in 
as much as it was so held by Judge Taylor, whose 
decision was afterwards confirmed. * And this prin- 
ciple as we have shown, is a foul stain on our char- 
acter as a free, enlightened, and religious people. 
And as the sovereign power in this government is 
vested in the people, who may and ought to have 
any regulation or change in their laws whenever a 
majority of them shall concur in the regulation or 
change required, we call upon the friends of human- 
ity, of virtue, of patriotism, and above all, of religion, 
to awake to a sense, not only of this, but of the ma- 
ny principles of injustice, inhumanity and irreligion 
Which attend our system of slavery ; and to continue 
their protest against measures so unjust to the unfor- 
tunate African, and so disgraceful to the spirit and 
principles of a free and religious community, until 
we shall succeed in rendering to mankind (the negro 
as well as the white man,) both true and impartial 
justice ; by which alone can glorious liberty be ren- 
dered perpetual, and we be enabled to transmit free- 
dom as an unsullied patrimony to posterity. 

Section II. On the cruelty of slavery. 
* Vol. II. Haywood's Reports, 170. 



(29) 

V» T e have seen in the preceding section much of 
the injustice with which our slave system so plenti- 
fully abounds. Much as our sense of justice and 
social order have been shocked during the survey, and 
much as our just abhorrence of such measures may 
have been excited, we are now about to enter upon 
the investigation of a feature in our state economy 
where the finer sensibilities of our natures must fre- 
quently be put to the rack ! and where our warmest 
sympathies must surely be excited in behalf of suf- 
fering innocence in a manner much more overpow- 
ering than any thing we have yet witnessed in this 
tragical system ! Now, as injustice is the withhol- 
ding from a fellow creature, that to which he is en- 
titled by the u Magna Charta" of his Creator, the 
law of nature, or some other laws in connection 
therewith ; so cruelty is the withholding of those acts 
of brotherly kindness and humane treatment from a 
fellow creature to which he is entitled — as a man 
and as a member of the great brotherhood of human 
beings. As injustice is the absence of justice, so 
cruelty is the absence of mercy ; and between these 
two last, mercy and cruelty, there is no vacuum : 
Every individual, as a social being, is either an ob- 
ject of the mercy or cruelty of others. He is either 
treated humanely, according to the dictates of kind- 
ness, by his fellow creatures, or he shares in their op- 



(30) 

pression, inhumanity and violence. To oppress a 
fellow creature, over whom we may have justly ac- 
quired an ascendency, or whom misfortunes of any 
kind, may have sunk within our power, is of course 
cruel. And hence the cruelties connected with 
slavery are almost, if not altogether incalculable. 
To set this part of our subject more fully before the 
reader, we shall proceed to notice some of those 
eircumstances of cruelty which have attended the 
introduction and continuance of slavery among us. 
And here our attention is first arrested by the slave- 
trade, which is of two kinds — foreign and domestic. 
The foreign, or African slave-trade, deserves first to 
be considered. And here, when we turn our atten- 
tion to Africa, we see it, though naturally a fertile 
country, well adapted to agricultural and commer- 
cial enterprize, yielding to the withering and destroy- 
ing influence of the slave-trade. Cantoned out into 
many separate nations or principalities, they wage 
intestine wars almost continually, for the purpose 
of obtaining prisoners of whom to make slaves, chief- 
ly for the purpose of selling them to a people falsely 
termed christians, many of whom hold, at the very 
time that they are riveting their chains of cruel 
bondage on their brethren, that "all men are crea- 
ted equal," and that liberty is the "birth-right of 
every human being." But finding the poor deluded 



(31) 

African willing to sacrifice his brother to mammon- 
they resort to the most nefarious measures to excite 
him to this cruel act, by breeding wars and exciting 
feuds among them, by occasioning a necessity or 
exciting a desire for foreign goods, productions, &c. 
and then refusing to trade the same to them for any- 
thing except slaves. And the African, too often hav- 
ing no greater or higher desires than those of sen- 
sual gratification, and having, in consequence of being 
long inured to scenes of the grossest superstition and 
amazing cruelty, lost, or stifled in a great measure, 
those native feelings of humanity, which so distin- 
guish the virtuous and the good, dares to sell his 
brother into absolute and perpetual slavery. And 
could we be present and witness this shameful 
traffic, as it has long been carried on there, what 
sorrow and disgust must it create in every philan- 
thropic mind ! We should there behold the merci- 
less slave-traders, like greedy vultures hovering 
around the dreary shores of bleeding Africa. There 
we should see honour — justice — humanity — virtue 
— all proscribed, and cruelty and inhumanity going 
forth in all their dreadful forms to complete this 
wretched drama of human oppression and misery. 
There we should see troops of savages violently 
seizing and forcibly bearing away the most inno- 
cent and helpless objects, that might chance to fall 



(32) 

within their grasp. There we should behold the 
"stoutest hearts failing them for fear," the most 
proud and dauntless spirits of African greatness, 
sinking down appalled ; and the most innocent and 
worthy, suffering all the indignities and hardships 
that can be supported or inflicted by human beings. 
And how must humanity bleed within us, while see. 
ing a helpless fellow mortal thus seized and in a 
merciless manner hurried off in the midst of cries and 
entreaties sufficient to soften the most relentless heart 
in which remains any sense of humanity? 0! what 
must be the agitation and apprehension of this un- 
fortunate victim of human injustice and violence 
while be is hurried on to his fatal destiny ! The 
thoughts of being parted from his native country, 
from his tender relatives, his father, his mother, or 
perhaps his affectionate wife and tender offspring, 
become almost insupportable to human nature, and 
at once awaken in his distressed bosom a thousand 
stings of the keenest and most painful sensibility. 
But when arrived at the place where the wretch 
who dares to purchase this object of human com- 
miseration, has been waiting to receive his cargo of 
human cattle, he is disposed of in a manner which 
shocks all the finer feelings of our nature. Here he 
is immediately loaded with irons, and confined in 
the loathsome prison of a slave ship, where he soon 



(33) 

finds that even the "tender mercies of the wicked are 

cruelties." It will doubtless be admitted by all that 
the conduct of the Africans in seizing, and making 
slaves of each other is highly culpable : But the 
conduct of those of civilized nations, who engage in 
this traffic is still more so, since they are found to 
sin against greater light and knowledge, and in a 
manner that is in no respect less criminal. Nor does 
it appear that the conduct of the African slave tra- 
ders is in itself better or less cruel in any respect 
than that of the savage Africans. It is certain that 
they kidnap with as much cruelty when an oppor- 
tunity offers, as do the African savages. But be- 
sides this there are other cruelties practised on 
these suffering mortals, by the African slave-traders 
over which, for the honor of human nature, we would 
draw a veil, did not justice demand that they should 
be made public ? Having collected his cargo of 
suffering victims, and made the same fast, by means 
of irons &c. the merciless tyrant commences his in- 
human expedition, laden with human misery, and 
distress. Alas ! what must be the anguish of these 
helpless, and may we not say, truly hopeless beings 
while the unfriendly breeze is hurrying them far, far 
from their native land — the land of their fathers, with 
which they leave every earthly object calculated 
to cheer them or even to render life supportable. 



(SO 

Their miseries must at this time be intolerable, height- 
ened, as well by the remembrance of former enjoy- 
ments now gone forever, as by the just anticipation 
of those inexpressible sufferings to which they will 
most likely be deposed through the remainder of 
their earthly career. But besides the horrors con- 
nected with intolerable servitude, there are miseries 
more insupportable and cruel than we can easily im- 
agine, inseparably connected with confinement in a 
slave ship. Uere we might see a brother suffering 
death in all the agonies of human woe, by the 
side of a brother, who in consequence of his own 
confinement can afford him no assistance, no not so 
much as to raise his sinking head, or wipe the tear 
that "stagnates in his eye.'' And of every cargo of 
these nnhappy beings thus seized and confined, there 
are doubtless many whose wretched existence is ter- 
minated ere they reach the place of destination. 
But those who are enabled to survive the perils of 
the sea, as well as the horrific confinement and bru- 
tal treatment which they undergo in the slave ships ? 
are at length brought into market, and sold like cat- 
tle, or in a manner no less brutal. And here these 
miserable creatures often fall into hands, that treat 
them the remainder of their days, with the utmost 
barbarity, working and beating them like oxen and 
feeding them but little better than dogs. By such 



(35) 

treatment as we have been describing, the sprightly 
and spirited African is soon reduced to a heartbroken, 
dispirited and miserable slave, almost naked and 
starved, moaping over some of our lovely fields, 
which seem silently to weep for the misery .and op- 
pression which they bear ; or perhaps groaning un- 
der the lash of some cruel master or overseer, while 
they often express the alarm and consternation which 
they feel on such occasions by a strange species of 
wild and haggard-like smiling, bordering on ghastli- 
ness. Here we behold them doomed to serve a 
people who are accustomed to look upon their 
whole raee with a kind of contempt, exercising to- 
wards them an obstinate prejudice from which nei- 
ther intelligence, virtue, nor religion has been found 
sufficient to screen them. Thus circumstanced they 
find themselves cut off from every means of better- 
ing their situation. 

The laws which exist respecting them, exist only 
to oppress them, without affording them any solid or 
real protection in any one instance, * as we shall 
presently proceed in some degree to show. But we 
proceed now to notice another abominable practice 
in this traffic, which is the domestic slave-trade. As 
though it were not cruelty enough to have touched 
every string of painful sensibility in the negroe's 

* Vide Stroud on the slave laws. 



(36) 

heart, by tearing him forcibly from his native Africa, 
lie must still be held subject to a new trial of this 
kind whenever it may best suit the selfish aud ava- 
ricious views of a cruel master, thirsting for gain 
or panting for cruel revenge. And if we have been 
accustomed to look upon African slave-traders with 
disgust, let us turn our attention homewards for a 
moment, and see if we have not among ourselves, 
men of similar character. We doubt not however, 
but many of those men engaged in the domestic 
slave-trade have been accustomed to regard African 
slave-traders as very depraved and cruel men ; and 
are very unwilling to rank with them, in point of 
character. But we hope they will do themselves 
the justice of entering calmly with us, into an in- 
vestigation of the principles and nature of the do- 
mestic slave-trade, while we briefly contrast it with 
the African slave-trade, — And first : — We would ask 
what is the primary object of the African slave-tra- 
der ? Gain, must undoubtedly be the just and only 
proper answer to this question. Now permit us to 
ask the domestic slave-trader what is his primary 
object? The same answer must invariably be giv- 
en : gain. The desire of amassing wealth becomes 
the predominant desire ere he is prepared for this 
inhuman traffic ! Should the domestic slave-trader 
plead in extenuation of his conduct, that those ne- 



(37) 

groes whom he buys and sells, were slaves before 
he bought or sold them, and can only be such after 
wards, and that in many cases their circumstances 
are really bettered by the exchange of masters which 
it has occasioned; all this will prove nothing in his 
favour, as it is the principles and motives existing in 
the heart, which, like main springs, exert a controlling 
influence over the man, in producing the actions of 
which we are speaking, and not the particular de- 
gree either of good or harm done to any individual 
thereby, which we are investigating. — But secondly: 
the African slave-traders obtain their subjects in any 
way that they can, without the least regard to the 
attachments or relationships either filial, parental, or 
conjugal, existing between the captured negro and 
those he is leaving behind him. In like manner the 
domestic slave-trader purchases his subjects wher- 
ever he can obtain the best bargains, without any 
regard * to the condition of the slave, in relation to 
any of the above mentioned particulars, and sells 
them again by the same rule. And although he does 
not crowd them down in the gloomy cells of a slave 
ship, yet he often loads the miserable creatures wilh 
irons in such a manner as to render their very exis- 
tence burdensome. It may however, be objected 

* There are doubtless some exceptions to this rule, but 
it is true in the main. 



(38) 

to the African slave-traders, that they sometimes 
kidnap and bring away those who were free, with- 
out paying an equivalent for them. Nor can we 
entirely vindicate the character of the domestic 
slave-traders from this disgrace of the human char- 
acter, some of whom are at times too notoriously 
guilty of this abomination, as we could make appear 
were it necessary, with but little inconvenience to 
ourselves. And although the instances of kidnap- 
ping in the history of the domestic slave-trade, are 
much more rare than in that of the foreign, yet we 
believe, and facts authorize the belief, that few have 
engaged in the former, with a view of amassing 
wealth, but have shown a disposition to obtain 
slaves in any way which the laws and existing cir- 
cumstances might permit. And it is a shameful 
fact that more or less, annually, of the free negroes, 
chiefly children, are taken and sold into slavery. 
From these facts it follows that, although the Afri- 
can slave-traders accomplish in some instances, more 
cruelty and inflict more injustice than the domestic 
slave-traders do, it is not because of any superior 
goodness of heart which the latter have more than the 
former; but it is because such cruelty and injustice 
are either unnecessary or impracticable. 

The domestic slave-traders often sunder the stron- 
gest and most endeared ties of nature and destroy 



(39) 

every prospect of earthly enjoyment, which may 
have been left to the poor negro, 

Negroes are human beings, and are capable of lov- 
ing, and of being endeared to each other, especially 
in the tender relations of husband and wife, parent 
and child, &c. And the pleasures arising out of their 
relations, though very much alloyed by the exis- 
tence of slavery, may nevertheless be enjoyed im- 
perfectly even by the slave. But in consequence of 
this traffic in human souls they are often deprived of 
these last remains of earthly felicity, which, though 
enjoyed by them very imperfectly at best, are inex- 
pressibly dear to them, as they constitute their en- 
tire store of earthly happiness. That we may per- 
ceive the heinousness and iniquity of our slave system 
in this respect, let us suppose a case — such a case as 
often occurs in the course of passing events. Here 
is a slave who, according to the best matrimonial 
rights existing in this country, with respect to slaves,* 
has vowed at the altar of Hymen, and is united to 
the woman whom he loves, and by whom he is loved 
in return, by many endearing ties. They entered 
piously and seriously into this union, and have been 
living chastely, and as far as could be expected, com- 
fortable together. This union is rendered still more 
complete by the tender pledges of their mutual love, 

* Such as they have instituted among themselves. 



(40) 

which are growing up before them. But they must 
part ; — Yes dearly as husband and wife, parents and 
children are connected together, they must now be 

sundered by a cruel master and a hard hearted pur- 
chaser. Here we must he Btruck, (if aught can 
strike us,) with the injustice which often attends 
human while we witness a weeping husband 

ruthlessly torn from the tender embraces of a heart- 
broken and worse than a widowed wile : parents in 
agonies of grief, taking a una! adieu of their beloved 
children ; and children in return, bereaved of the 
parental superintendence of affectionate, perhaps 
praying parents, and thrown upon the mercy and 
faith of beings from whom thvy have 1 , nothing to ex- 
pect hut labor and oppression. And yet these ob- 
jects of human commiseration are as we have said, 
human beings, — nay more — some of them are true 
believers in Christ, — legitimate members of his mys- 
tical body and heirs of his glorious kingdom. Let 
such therefore, as engage in the buying and selling of 
such slaves, with an intention to enslave them, or 
who holding them as property, exercise over them an 
unnecessary, and (as many do) an inhuman oppres- 
sion, attend to our Saviour's declarations : "Inas- 
much as we have done this unto one of these little 
ones, ye have done it unto me." "Better for a man 
that a mill stone were hanged about his neck and he 



(41) 

cast into the depths of the Sea, than to offend one 
of these little ones." But it may be asked, why 
do these things exist ? Hath it not been said — "Those 
whom God hath joined together let not man put 
asunder '.''' Truely — But our law knows no such 
thing as marriage among slaves ! This brings us to 
show what we before promised, that the laws of tin's 
State afford no solid or substantial protection to the 
slave in any one instance. This we shall briefly do, 
by laying down a few propositions, which we give 
as the true spirit and meaning of the laws now in 
force in this State. And first : — The laws of this 
State afford the slave no protection in his conjugal 
rights. This is evident, inasmuch as the law 
knows no such thing as marriage among them. And 
it is just, further to observe, that as there is no law 
to guard the sanctity of marriage among slaves, 60 
there is none to restrain them from any of these 
abominations in this respect, to which they, in con- 
sequence of their degraded situation, are particular- 
ly prone. Hence adultery, fornication, polygamy, 
incest A:c. are no violations of the law of this State, 
provided the same be committed among slaves only. 
And in the midst of the beastly, and the rude, we 
find the chaste virgin exposed to their capricious 
lusts, and rude assaults, without even the poor 
privilege of complaining ; especially if the same 



(42) 

should have to be made against a monster who is 
white. 0! shame, 0! scandal to the human char- 
acter. Secondly: the slave in North-Carolina, is 
not protected by law in his right in property, in any 
case: so express are the laws in relation to this par- 
ticular, that should a humane master permit his 
slave to raise and claim "live stock,'' the property so 
raised and claimed by a slave, is liable to be seized 
and sold for the public benefit. Thirdly: Nor is 
the slave pro'ected by law in his person. It is true, 
there are laws in existence in this State, with re- 
spect to tins last, but in such a manner as to render 
them of no real advantage to the slave. Thus the 
law says, that, an allowance "of at least one quart of 
corn a day," shall be given to the slave. But it is 
manifest that the slave can have no redress, should 
even this small quantity be denied him ; since the 
slave cannot, in such a case, prosecute his master or 
owner, or prove any thing in this matter, or in any 
other, against him, either by his own, or the evidence 
of other African descendent, to the fourth generation. 
And it is also true, that laws have been passed to 
prevent the murder of slaves! But if a wretch, being 
white, wishes to abuse, or even murder a negro, he 
has only to embrace an opportunity of doing it, when 
no white jierso?i is present. And a slave may, in 
certain cases, be even lawfully killed, (viz.) First : for 



(43) 

lurking 1 in swamps, and pilfering in the neighborhood, 
being a runaway, a slave may be outlawed by any 
justice of the county wherein such runaway may be 
discovered, and may afterwards be lawfully killed 
by any person. Secondly: He may be lawfully kill- 
ed in the act of resistance to his lawful owner or 
master. Thirdly: And where no such resistance is 
made, the humane laws of this State can find means 
of excusing or commuting the murder of slave?. 
In 1798, an act was passed to prevent the murdering 
of slaves, but lest this act should be found to impose 
too great a bar against the cruel abuse of slaves, the 
third section provides that the penalty which the act 
inflicts, shall not be incurred when the slave dies 
under "moderate correction." The law must be ac- 
knowledged lenient since the "correction" must be 
moderate." But to call a correction "moderate" 
which is sufficiently severe to produce death, is a 
solecism too glaring to require a criticism, and too 
monstrous for sober legislation. As in the above, 
bo in all other instances; there must ever exist ihe 
same difficulty in the negro's obtaining, even that 
small degree of justice to which the laws seem to 
entitle him, so long as he is compelled to prove 
everything respecting the affair by white witnesses. 
And why is this the case? Why are black turn pre- 
vented from giving evidence against white men, 



(44) 

ihe lattei have all the advantage! of evidence 

ist the formal ? Ki it became the blade man is a 

ihedly depraved being, who will oat ipeaa tho 

truth ? Then wh| lhat m - iutn.r- 

iad depraved character whether whiU oc black 

ghall not Dtl men 

of ■ taxi Now our law very right* 

. - .. , or ] j ing 

and the 

bility of roan to the .:■ i d evidence 

ii any Court of haw, or Equity in tin- B Our 

law-framen could not have been actuated by motives 

of tfc kind, in fixing the I the Africans 

in th sot which we presume, 

dmil l*ie truth of revelation (and ( ur 
law is founded on this a . that there are 

many slaves as well i negroes, who are i 

,• while on the 
other hand, there are many exampl rate 

depravity among the white t as among the blacli pop- 
ulation « f this country. And further, there are 
among the black people, both men, 

whoso mere assertions would be received and ac- 
credited sooner by far, by their respectable neigh- 
bours, than even the oaths of many uhilt i i i And 
as the palladium of our civil institutions, i.< that of 



( 45 ) 

trial by jury, no danger could l>e justly appTehend< d 
from the admission of their evidence in most ci 
since Ihey must always appeal before ■ court under 
disad. ; the prejndicei of the jurors, court ..V<\ 

•ia!!y I" ang against them, would prevent 
any undue difference being paid to their testimony. 
And the prejudices of education, which white people 
universally exercise more or less, towards tl i 
in this country, afibrdi i conclusive argument in I 
of tbti ii. But before we dismiss this subject 

we woo ! drop an admonition to such as are d po- 
sed to take advantages of the negro under the pr< 
existing laws, that they he careful how the) 
thus; linee all the transactions of the presenl I'fe 
will be reconsidered in a future Court, where Christ 
himself will be the Supreme .' Act. xvn, 

31) ami his Apostles and saints subordinate jui 
\ • , and where many of those on whom the law now 
imposes silence, will doubt the Bwi 

witness againsl you. Fourthly: One more, and we 
shall have done with this pait of our subject. The 
laws make ao provision for the education or moral 
improvement of the slaves; Lut rather the contrary: 
since they permit the master to exercise an i iclu- 
utc control over the slave; who, in general, seems to 
think he has done enough, if he kept the slave 



(4G) 
busily at work, without affording hid any facilities 

by which to elevate himself in the Bcale of being, by 
devoting a portion of his time to the acquisition of 
learning and mental improvement. The truth is, the 
advocates of slavery have thought the best way of 
maintaining their dominion, was to keep these miser- 
able creatures in ignorance. And a large portion of 
our law-framera being of this class, they have BTCf 
maintained a of slavery calculated, in their 

opinion, to keep them Becure in this respect Bence 
learning, though in a very small degree diffused 
among the coloured people of a lew sections of this 
. may be said to be almost unknown to that race 
o! beings in North-Carolina, where the sciences have 
been bo 1 »ng cultivated. Nor is the little instruction 
no <>f them have received, and by which a 
few among the thousands of our coloured population, 
have been taught to spoil, or perhaps t<» read in 

.*' in the least owing t<» any legal pro- 
vision for the same: but solely to that charity 
which "endured] all things," and is willing t-. Buffer 
reproach, for the sake of being instrumental in "de- 
livering the poor that cry," and in "directing the 
wanderer in the right way." And even charily with 
all her store of precious gifts must stand at a dis- 
tance, and see thousands of precious souls die in 
ignorance, their minds a moral desert, benighted, 



(47) 

and wretched ; while sin, in all its deadly forms 
comes in to complete their ruin, without being able 
to afford them any assistance : provided Bnch be the 
unrighteous will of the man who claims a title to 
property in these "human souls." These things we 
hold to be improper in themselves, and highly dis- 
pleasing to the God of Eeaven, "who hath of one 
blood created all men," for the express purpose of 
glorifying him. But is it not morally certain that 
the slave, if kept in ignorance, will be unable to 
glorify God in that degree, and to that extent, origin- 
ally designed by his maker? Certainly it is : For 

while it is said that "The Holy Scriptures are 

able to make wise unto salvation," and to furnish the 
man of God to "every good work,*' it i-, also said 
that tin 1 "unlearned wrest these things to their own 

destruction." But further, we contend that the 

withholding of mental improvement and moral cul- 
ture from the slaveia a robbery — a Bacrilege against 
Heaven— -against God himself: Because it deprives 

him of much service and adoration, which these ig- 
norant creatures, aided by an education in letters, 
and moral as well as religious principles, might 
have rendered to him. Yet to our great mortification 
and the mortification of every true christian who has 
impartially thought on, and weighed this subject, we 



( ft ) 

sometimes moot with high-toned pp f religion 

who »« .- ;iilr y »" this respect. "0 tell it not in 
Gmth, neither publish it in the Btreeti of Askalon." 
^'- v (i * vin.lir-to hia injured cause, aud save our 
Holy Religion from such disgrace. 

It will be in vain that any may attempt to con- 
ceal or extenuate these facts, or to make them appear 
in any respect less heinous than what Lb here rep. 
resented. The Declaration of Rights that: 

—"Through divine goodness m.l men have a natural 
and unalienable right to worship Almighty G .1 
according to the dictates of their own conscien 
3Tet we must add that, Through human inju 
ani! ■ < ! '^ "right" is substantially taken 

from Ow slave, and is vested in the master, who may 
give or withhold, in this matter (so far as it is 
possible for human authority to control it,) just as 
he pleases. "These thiugi ought not to bef and 
they are such as call for immediate redress. 

PROPOSITION III. 
Absolute slavery is a fruitful source of pride, 
idleness and tyranny. 

This proposition is proved to be true by the 
common experience of mankind; and in a manne- 
too, that must force conviction upon every impreju 
diced and observing understanding. But it may 



(49) 

nevertheless, be asked, when does slavery begin tins 
mighty work in the human soul? — We answer, as 
soon as embryo reason hegins to exert itself, it is, 
through this medium, perverted, and the little strength 
which it has acquired, is, by a wretched application, 
turned to its own destruction. The little child he- 
gins to view itself in contrast with its black asso- 
ciates ; and while it discovers that these little crea- 
tures, as well as their fathers and mothers, are all 
destined to labour for white people^ it imagines itself 
attached to a superior race of beings. And when 
grown a little larger, it finds these unwholesome ideas 
greatly strengthened by being permitted to command 
Tom and Bet to this or that, according as its whims 
or fancies may direct. These things dispose the 
heart to pride, and not unfiequently to tyranny itself. 
This disposition to "look down" on the part of man- 
kind which does not possess the same advantages 
with ourselves, and which has heen so successfully 
implanted in the minds of these little and 

mistresses, by a comparison of their own exalted 
worth with that of the degraded m ■_ rows and 

strengthens with them. They next begin to com- 
pare themselves with the more humble and desti- 
tute of the neighbours, and find their own superior 
greatness more fully demonstrated : and the same 



(») 

contempt which they cherish for the negro they now 
begin to cherish towards the white peasantry, les- 
sening, however, in proportion as they advance from 
poverty and humMe life towards wealth and afflu- 
ence. It Lb here also, that the disposition to "grind 
the face of the poor," and to "oppress the landing 
in his wages," so common among the wealthy, and 
by far too common with the middle class* a of our 
citizens, receives its first impulse. The children of 
these parents who own slaves, and think, or seem to 
think it not amiss to storm and drive, with all the 
hurry and fury of which they are capable, learn to 
act in a similar manner. And it is a fad too well 
known at Least by the poor) to admit of successful 
controversy, that the man who will oppress and 
abuse his own slaves, will also when an opportunity 
is afforded, oppress his indigent neighbour, or any 
one else over whom he may have gained an advan- 
tage. This principle strikes at the root of our repub- 
lican institutions, and if suffered to become sufficient- 
ly strong, would overturn even our liberty itself. 
But there is no alarming prospect at this time, of such 
principles getting to such a height among us, if they 
be timely and sufficiently opposed by the people, 
whose privilege and interest is to oppose them. Yet 
this much is certain, that by such principles as these, 
our fine gold has become dim, and much of our ri- 



(51) 

sing glory lias been lost ! We might say much more 
on this subject, but as it may be necessary, in atten- 
ding to the next proposition, to advert to some things 
primarily embraced in this, we defer their conside- 
ration until called up in support of facts inure lamen- 
table, yet not less true than those embraced in this 
proposition. 



PROPOSITION IV. 
Absolute slavery increases depravity in the human 

heart, and nourishes a train of dark and brutal pas- 
sions and lusts, disgraceful to human nature and 
destructive of the general welfare. 

Proofs of this proposition are abundant. "We 
cannot long survey any one feature of slavery, with- 

out receiving some fresh confirmation of its truth. 
But we shall at present, detain our readers but a 
shor.t time on a subject which must be such as to 
sicken the heart of the philanthropist, and to cause 
misanthropy itself to blush. To describe the gross 
ignorance into which nearly all our slave population 
are sunk — the deplorable corruption of morals, the 
natural offspring of 6uch ignorance, everywhere 
seen among them, and these, like descending streams 
of destructive lava, bursting from the summit of this 
amazing mountain of human depravity, and exten- 
ding its influence throughout our State, withering the 



(52) 

tenderest plants and blasting the opening flowers 
of human greatness wherever they come, throughout 
the various walks of society, would be a task of no 
ordinary undertaking. That the conduct of the mas- 
ter towards his slaves lias, in general, a tendency to 
keep them ignorant and depraved, is a fact which 
must be admitted by all. And although there are 
some honourable exceptions, (blessed be God !) yet 
is it not true in the main, that slaves are grossly 
ignorant and depraved? Let a general examination 
into the character and morals of slaves, particularly 
in those parts of the State where they most abound, 
and where they are under the control of overseers 
&c. decide this question. And yet these ignorant 
— these depraved — these too-often vicious domestics 
were the misses of most of those whose fortunes 
entitle them, (at least in their own estimation,) to 
high distinctions among us, and who, having received 
their first rudiments among these intelligent slaves, 
(and that, too, doubtless, to the detriment of both 
their understanding and habits) think themselves 
entitled to sit at the helm of Government. If we 
consider how many of those who live on the sweat 
and toil of their unhappy domestics, who, relying 
on their wealth for their future success and enjoy- 
ments, grow vain and insolent, and while they 
neglect ail useful business, look down with haughty 



(53) 

pride on the bumble and laborious, supposing labor 
beneath the dignity of gentlemen — we say, cast 
a glance over the final destiny of the innumerable 
host that come under this description, and we are 
made to exclaim — How many thus sink down into 
insignificance, and whose very memories rot, who, 
otherwise, might have lived to the latest posterity, 
as monuments of human greatness ! How many 
such become the very nuisances of society, and are 
remembered by their enemies with execration and 
by their friends with remorse ! Reflections of this 
kind will lead us into a correct estimate, in this re- 
spect, of the evils of slavery. It is not necessary to 
mention the transcendant sin of intemperance, or the 
more extreme sin of theft and plunder, engaged in, 
too often, by those who are too proud to endure 
'poverty, and too much the slave of indolence to labour 
honestly for a support. These evils which have 
spread so widely through our country, owe their 
origin more to the existence of slavery, either di- 
rectly or indirectly, than to any one extreme circum- 
stance whatever. 

It is slavery that has rendered labour disgraceful, 
in so much, that to labour is to be like the negroes ; 
and it is slavery that gives idleness its charms, since 
the idler is, in this respect at least, like the gentle- 



(54) 

man* To exemplify tins fact let us contrast ourselves 
as a community, with those of the free States; there we 
see all classes work, without thinking it in the least 
disgraceful— There it is that hirelings are not afraid 
of working like negroes, as is too often the case 
with them in this country— there it is that the 
hale sons of Columbia enjoy the sweets of domes- 
tic life, while the labour which they undergo condu- 
ces greatly to the health, both of mind and body, 
and the establishing of the same in virtue. The 
"active mind of man" is seldom idle ; and when not 
in the pursuit of improvement, it is apt to fall an ea- 
sy prey to some vice, which, when it has gained 
admission into the human breast, seldom ceases to 
triumph until it has fathered upon the individual all 
its kindred. It was not until the evil spirit men- 
tioned in the scriptures, found the house "empty" 
(unemployed) that he was able to enter with "seven 
other spirits more wicked than himself :" so it is 
with idlers generally ;— the Devil takes this advan- 
tage of them, first inflaming their desires of sensual 
happiness, vitiating their tastes and corrupting their 
minds generally, until he, by these means succeeds in 

* It will be seen here that we speak not of true gentle- 
men, but of those useless property- made gentlemen who 
place that trust in wealth, which others place in rectitude 
of conduct. 



(55) 

leading hia unhappy captives, first to the "shades of 
insignificance" and thence to the "mansions of mis- 
ery." But we have not time to pursue this subject 
through all its labyrinths ; we trust, however, that 
the contemplative reader will follow it out and sup- 
ply whatever may be wanting. 

We have said, that slavery nourishes a train of 
brutal passions and lusts, disgraceful, &c. In sup- 
port of this part of our proposition, many considera- 
tions might be urged, one of which, however, must 
suffice for the present. We had occasion to remark, 
in a former part of this address, that the chastity of 
the female slave is not protected by law ! No, not in 
the least ! The most virtuous and chaste of this 
degraded race are daily exposed to the hateful 
lusts of the most incestuous, without the poor priv- 
ilege of either defending or complaining against 
such diabolical treatment. The disgrace of such an 
outrage on virtue and the sacred rights of social or- 
der, we would fain, (for the honour of our country,) 
conceal, were it not proclaimed against us by the 
tawmj skins of a numerous host of mulattoes, many 
of whom recognize among their masters, owners &c. 
the relations of fathers, brothers, sisters &c. yes: 
dreadful as it may seem, man literally 

"Chains his brother and exacts his sweat." 
And sure if angels ever weep at the follies and crimes 



( M ) 

of men, it must be when thus employed. Amalga- 
mation has been professedly deprecated by onr le- 
tors, and people generally, as one oi the sorest 
evils thai could befal us in this respect: and laws 
have been enacted to prevent fira negroes from in- 
termarrying with white people, while strange to tell, 
not one legislative effort has been made to prevent 
the abase of female slaves, by whom, or under what 
ravating circumstances soever the same might lie 
offered. These circumstances, with others no Leas on- 
favorable to onr moral and political character, make 
primary ingredients in that monument of our country's 
disgrace, which, unless it be demolished by the virtues 
of our present or succeeding citisenship, can only fall 
with our remembrance as a people, and not until 
the last laurel lias dropped from our brow, and our 
last fading glory is extiud ! We might enlarge on 
this painful subject : we might treat of the force of 
temptation, particularly when coming from a quar- 
ter to meet the cordial approbation of our natural 
passions and desires ; and in the accomplishment of 
which no formidable bar is interposed. AVc might 
show how reason is here overpowered and dethro- 
ned ; how the remonstrances of virtue, already de- 
cayed and emaciated, become vain and futile; how 
man, hent upon sensual gratification, rushes on, 
brutifies himself, inflames his passions but the more, 



(57) 

prepares himself for the practice of almost every 
vice, and at once submits to be carried by the cur- 
rent of Lis clamorous inclinations into the whirlpool 
of vice and dissipation; but we forbear. Thus we 
have given a faint and very imperfect representation, 
which, it is believed, falls far below the reality ; but 
such a one as is by no means flattering, either to the 
wisdom or virtue of our country. 

One remark more shall close our observations on 
this subject. If this be the nature of the case, is it 
not a matter of surprise that these things have not 
excited the attention of our legislatures before now? 
Truly they cannot be ignorant of this evil; but still 
they have approbated, or at least winked at it. We 
are certainly entitled t<> enquire into the cause of this 
neglect. Has it been then, as they have said, "Be- 
cause this subject needs no legislative interference?" 
Facts the most incontestable declare the contrary. 
Has it been because the evil to be removed was one 
too great to be exterminated, either in part or in 
whole? We think not. Has it been because the 
appeals on this subject have not been sufficient to 
elicit the feelings of humanity, and awaken the voice 
of justice ? surely not. Must we then conclude that 
there is not virtue enough among us as a people 
to correct even the grossest of irregularities? And 



(58) 

are we not authorized to fear that the legislative 
functionaries among us, have designedly neglected 
this subject, lest by imposing any restraints on the 
licentious in this respect, they should also abridge 
their own enjoyments? Carolinians! reflect on 
this subject ! It is one that demands your attention. 
The evil here complained of has alread ruined ma- 
ny of your sons? It is the hateful mildew which 
tarnishes the virtue of many a promising American 
youth, and is the cause of more debauchery than all 
other causes conjoined ! Let the people — the virtu- 
ous, the intelligent people, call "loud and long" for 
redress on this subject, until virtue triumphs over 
vice, and humanity over cruelty. 



PROPOSITION V. 

Slavery, absolute and unconditional, is no less 
contrary to the christian religion than to the dictates 
of justice and humanity. 

It may seem superfluous, after having dwelt so 
long on the evils and miseries of slavery, to say any 
thing in relation to its anti-christian character ; for if 
what we have said already be true, it must be appa- 
rent to all serious and sober thinking people that a 
system fraught with so much injustice and attended 
with so many pernicious consequences, cannot 
possibly be consistent with the simple and disinter- 



(59) 

ested truths of the religion of Christ. But the at- 
tempts which worldly-minded and selfish professors 
are daily making to reconcile slavery which Chris- 
tianity, constitute our apology for detaining our 
readers awhile on this part of the subject. And 
here we shall first attempt to show that slavery is 
inconsistent with the Mosaic or Jewish policy : and 
secondly, that it is contrary to the most obvious du- 
ties and requirements of the teachings of Christ. 

First. We have said that slavery was inconsis- 
tant with the Mosaic or Jewish policy. It is true 
that a species of slavery existed among the Jews, 
both before and after the giving of the law, but the 
rigor and perpetuity which characterize our slave- 
system was not tolerated among the Jews ; nor was 
the servitude known among that people of that 
absolute nature, practised. No Hebrew was at 
liberty to continue a Hebrew whom he had pur- 
chased longer than six years against his will. Thus 
in Exodus XXI chap. 2, 3, «r. it was admitted 
that m such cases the servant should "serve " his 
master "six years" and the "seventh" he should go 
out free. In Deutero7iomy, XV chap. 12, ver. the 
same principle is recognized, and applied to Hebrew 
servants, both male and female ; and here also they 
are declared to be free on the seventh year. And in 
the last paragraph of the XXXIV chap, of Jeremiah, 



(60) 

we find God by the mouth of the prophet, reiterating 
this sacred statute, censuring the Jews in the highest 
degree for not observing it, and threatening to visit 
them with sword, famine SfC and to scatter them 
among all nations for such disobedience. 

The principal causes of slavery among the He- 
brews were, First, poverty which obliged them to 
sell themselves. Leviticus XXV, 39, and Secondly, 
the commission of theft for which they were not 
able to make amends. Exod. XXII. 3. And from 
the example of the widow, whose oil Elisha mul- 
tiplied, it seems that the demands of creditors exten- 
ded to the enslaving of the children of insolvent debt- 
ors. II. Kings IV. 1. In all this we find nothing to 
justify the slavery that exists among us, which has 
been marked with cruelty in every period of its 
existence. Those Hebrews servants, or slaves, were 
not only entitled to go out free on the seventh or 
sabbatical year ; but if they were not then disposed 
to leave their wives and children, and make use of the 
privilege, "they might claim their liberty and that of 
their children, in the Jubilee, or fiftieth year: 1 
Lev. XXV. 40. But it is alleged that besides this 
enslaving of Hebrews by Hebrews, "there existed 
another species of slavery among the Jews, a species 
of slavery which fully justifies the system now exis- 
ting anion"; us." To this allegation, we reply-— First* 



(61) 

that it is very uncertain whether this allegation he 
founded in truth or not, — and Secondly, if it is, it 
proves nothing against our argument in the present 
instance. 

First then, we contend that the allegation is itself 
founded in doubt, or uncertainty. God's covenant 
with Abraham and with his seed after him was, 
that they should duly circumcise every male among 
them, as well him that was bought with money of 
any stranger, as he that was a native descendant of 
Abraham. Gen. XVII. 10 — 12. Jewish commentators 
agree that this command was strictly construed and 
faithfully practised. Thus it is said by Maimonides, 
" Whether a servant be born in the house of an Is- 
raelite, or whether he be purchased from the breth- 
ren, the master is to bring them both into the 
covenant. But he that is born in the house is to be 
entered upon the eighth day, and he that is bought 
with money on the day on which the master re- 
ceived him, unless the slave be unwilling. For, if 
the master receive a grown slave, and he be unwill- 
ing, his master is to bear with him, to seek to win 
him over by instruction and by love and kindness, for 
one year, after which should he refuse so long, it is 
forbidden to keep him longer then the winter months, 
and the master must send him back to the stranger 
from y-hence he came, for the God of Jacob will not 



(62) 

accept the worship of any other than a willing heart." 
And by a comparison of Genesis, Chap. XVII. Verse 
10, with Romans, Chap, IV. Verse 9 — 12, it is cer- 
tain that those who receive the right of circumcision 
were consecrated to the service ot the true God. * 
And these circumcised strangers were called by the 
Jews, proselytes of justice, because they embraced 
the whole law of Moses, and engaged themselves to 
live holy and justly. "And they, therefore," (says 
the learned and the pious Claudius Florius, in his 
celebrated treatise on the manners, customs, rights, 
&c. of the ancient Israelites, pag. 129) "had the rank 
and privilege, of Natural Jews." This sentiment 
is also corroborated by the learned Mr. Home who 
says, "although the constitution of the Jewish polity, 
and the laws of Moses allowed no other nation to 
participate in their sacred rites, yet they did not 
exclude such as were willing to qualify themselves 
for conforming to them." 

From the above considerations, and others that 
might be adduced, it is propable that the slaves which 
were bought of strangers and afterwards became 
circumcised, enjoyed all the privileges of enftanchis- 
ment, especially in the year of Jubilee : for IS t. Paul 
says of such, that they were "debtor to do the 

* Home's Introduction to the critical study of the iiojy 
Scriptures. 



(63) 

whole law." And surely if they "must do the whole 
law," they, in turn, would reap the benefits conferred 
by the law. This opinion is generally strengthened 
by the command of God, in Lev. Chap. XXV. 
Verse 10 — "And ye shall hallow the fiftieth, and pro- 
claim liberty throughout all the land, unto all the 
inhabitants thereof: and it shall be a Jubilee unto 
you ; and ye shall return every man unto his possess- 
ions, and ye shall return every man unto his family." 
But since there are some authorities which favor 
a different hypothesis with respect to the nature of 
that slavery into which strangers were brought by 
Jews, we shall leave, as all who duly weigh both 
sides of the subject must leave it, in a degree of 
doubt and uncertainty ; for as Mr. Stroud has justly 
remarked : "it is a subject not to be discoursed on 
with the freedom of ordinary criticism, and on 
which there is an obscurity which leaves the mind 
unsatisfied." 

But suppose we give up the ground altogether, and 
let the friends of slavery have the advantage of the 
position they have taken in this respect, instead of 
deriving any support from this circumstance, their 
cause is rather weakened, since we, being Gentiles, 
should, by the same rule, act towards Gentiles as 
Jeivs did towards Jews similarly circumstanced. 
"The only legitimate inference, therefore, which, 



(64) 

in a comparison with Mosaic regulations, analogy 
furnishes, is, that our conduct to slaves should be 
the same as was the conduct of Israelites to Hebrew 
slaves. 

Secondly. If slavery be inconsistent with the 
Mosaic or Jewish polity, it is still more so with the 
precepts of Christ. The Mosaic dispensation was, 
in some respects, a dispensation of bondage, but the 
Christain or gospel dispensation, is in every respect, 
a dispensation of liberty. The genius of the gospel 
is "mildness, gentleness and brothery kindness," &c 
And the great and ruling maxim by which Christ 
would have his followers to regulate their conduct 
is this: "All things, whatsoever ye would that men 
should do unto you, do ye even so unto them." 
This rule is applied in reference to our conduct to- 
wards all men. And in addition to this, or rather 
by way of inforcing it, we are commanded by Christ, 
to "be merciful, as our heavenly father is merciful ;" 
and St. Paul has enjoined the doing of good to all 
men. On these plain scriptures, the sense of which 
is too plain and obvious to be overlooked by any 
devout seeker of truth, we think it entirely unneces- 
sary to offer any comment. Surely no serious and 
sober - thinking christain will, with these scriptures, 
and a thousand others of similar import, before his 



(65) 

eyes, attempt again to reconcile slavery with Christi- 
anity. No, brethren; — if you find your hearts to he 
evil, by unjustly and unmercifully enslaving your 
fellow creatures ; by living in pampered ease and 
affluence on the labors, toil and sweat, or may we 
not say, the "flesh and blood] 1 of the poor African, 
do not insult the common sense of mankind, and put 
that religion which you profess to love, to the blush, 
by prostituting the mild and gentle doctrines of the 
gospel to the support of a principle and practice 
which shock every native idea which mankind 
have of natural and universal justice! May the spir- 
it which inspired these holy men of old, who wrote 
the sacred text as they were moved by the Holy 
Ghost, save us from "wresting it thus to our own 
destruction !" 

The following principles, most of which are de- 
ducible from the foregoing remarks, we give as the 
primary principles held by us as a Society — together 
with a brief outline of the plan which we would ad- 
opt for the abolition of the evil complained of: and 
First. We hold, with the venerable founder of 
our republican institutions, that liberty is the unal- 
ienable birth-right of every human being ; and that 
God has made no difference in this respect between 
the ivhite and black. 



(66) 

Secondly. We believe that, in a national and in- 
dividual point of view, the negro is entitled to the 
same measure of justice with the white man, and 
that neither his skin, nor any other material conse- 
quence attending him, can afford a reasonable pre 
text for his oppression. 

Thirdly, We believe that the evil is one which 
affects every part of the community, in a greater or 
less degree ; and may therefore be termed a national 
evil ; and that both emancipation and colonization 
are necessary to its removal. 

With regacd to emancipation, we hold 1st, that 
it should be gradual; so conducted as not to inter- 
fere with the rights of property; — But 2ndly, that 
it should be universal. This however, is not e- 
nough. — The debt which we owe the negroes is not 
sufficiently paid by merely suffering the oppressed to 
go free. We believe it to be the duty of our coun- 
trymen, to use all possible means to enlighten and 
elevate the minds, ennoble the hearts , and improve 
and elevate the character of the negroes among us, 
that they may be prepared both to enjoy and appre- 
ciate liberty, and to discharge the important duties 
assigned them by their creator, as well to himself 
as to their fellow creatures, with honour to God 
and benefit to mankind. 



(67) 

In order to remove this alarming evil which is 
threatening in its aspect, and which if continued 
long enough, must he so destructive in its conse- 
quences, we would recommend the following : 

First. Let a law be enacted, preventing the 
further introduction of slaves into the State for sale 
or hire. 

Secondly. Let a law he enacted, facilitating in- 
dividual emancipation, by allowing such masters as 
wish to liberate their slaves, to do so ; provided the 
liberated slave be capable of earning a comfortable 
livelihood. 

Thirdly. We would recommend a law to facil- 
itate individual emancipation still further, by au- 
thorizing negroes to make contracts with their 
masters by which they may purchase their own free- 
dom. 

Fourthly. We would recommend the passage 
of laws imposing still further restraints upon the 
abuse of slaves, and affording the unlawfully abused 
slave, at the same time, easy means of redress. 

Fifthly. We would recommend a law providing 
for the instruction of slaves in the elementa- 
ry principles of language, at least so far as to enable 
them to read the Holy Scriptures. 



(68) 

Sixthly. We would provide by law that all chil- 
dren in this State after a certain period, should be 
free at a certain age; and from and after the passing 
of said act, no negroes should be removed from the 
State in such a way as to lose the benefit of said act 
upon their posterity. 



l^IWli 



The committee appointed by the 
General Association of the Manumis- 
sion Society of North - Carolina, to 
draw up an address to the people of 
the State, and to report the same to 
the Board of Managers of the said So- 
ciety for publication, respectfully re- 
port the forgoing. 

AMOS WEAVER, Chairman. 



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